November 7, 2005

The Gallatin River: A great place to fish in the fall!  The flow  levels are in the very wade-able fishing range at  just a smidge under 400 cfs.   The dry fly activity we were seeing in the past month plus has all but petered out completely.  It's almost solely a nymph or streamer gig now.  The water is very cold compared to other areas rivers especially up in the canyon from Gallatin Gateway to Yellowstone National Park.  I would consider all the fishing to be a winter situation from now through to next March.  With that in mind, you should be fishing a longer leader, say 10 ft tapered down to 4 or 5X.  Perhaps even 6X depending upon the actual conditions you encounter.   Team that with a BH Copper John, FB PT, or FB Hare's Ear and a dropper  with midge imitations like brassies, etc. and you should be good to go.  Baetis are pretty much finished.  It's almost predominantly a midge scenario now.  You could still find some fish eating eggs as the browns that have come up river may still be spawning albeit most of this is finished too.  The whitefish should be on the spawn, however. So creamy yellow eggs may  just be the ticket. 

Milesnick Ranch property- Ben Hart and Thompson creeks: and the Skinner East Gallatin Ranch have had very solid Baetis and midges throughout the fall.  Fish are looking for the bugs from the midday hours with the emergence of the first bugs through the late afternoon unless it's really cold.  Nymphing with smaller beads and emerger patterns or stripping streamers in the big deep pools will be your best bet until the activity  on the surface really ramps up around 1-2 PM.   On the days where there have been fish eating on the surface, we've been doing quite well with very small hi-vis para Adams (20), Griffiths Gnats, rusty spinners, double wing spinners, and very small FB Pt's.  Nymphing has been the best bet with the usual array of  bugs. Sticking to the smaller sizes of 18 and down, midge pupa, miracle nymphs, very small San Juan's, Pt's and micro princes have all worked well.  You don't always have to have them under an Indy 5 feet up the leader.  Try the Indy about 16 inches to 2 feet above the fly with either no extra weight or a very small size #8 or 6 split shot. 

Lots of ducks flying the creeks as well.  Both the Milesnick's and the Skinner's have duck hunting memberships.  It's been a lot of fun to bang away at mallards and widgeons in the early morning and pick up the flyrods for the afternoon.  A real blast and cast!  Go rock 'em!

Armstrong's, Depuy's, and Nelson's- Paradise Valley: All 3 creeks continue to have good fishing.  The Baetis are still present but have subsided substantially from what the hatch was like in mid October.  More and more midges present and the fish are definitely noticing the switch.  Most of the brown trout have finished spawning and are slowly migrating back down the creeks.  There are some late comers still on the redds, but not many.  You'll find the midges going well in the mid morning hours if the wind is not blowing.  The Baetis are trickling off on the cloudy and less windy days from midday on through until 3 or 4 in the afternoon.

The Missouri River:  Solid fishing can still be had as long as the  the wind isn't blowing silly.  And it's likely you'll have the river completely to yourself as far as fishing goes.  There may be some waterfowl hunters out and about, but that's about it.  Look for Baetis during the afternoon through evening hours as well as midges. The Baetis thing will draw the attention of hungry trout on the dark overcast snotty days like we seem to be getting more and more frequently.    From 2PM on to dark every fish in the river may be up chowing if there's decent amount of bugs and NO WIND.  Doesn't mean they are easy to catch, but they will be eating! 

During late morning hours through about lunchtime, nymphing has been good in the deeper slots and backsides of the riffles and shelves.  Best bet has been a RED JUAN with a dropper consisting of zebra midges (20), FB PT (16-20) love bugs (18), smaller caddis pupas- the mangy has worked very well (16-20).  Following lunch and as the hatch begins to get cranked up and you start to see a few fish up feeding, switching to what I call the spring creek emerger rig has paid off.  Run your first fly as a small beadhead and put another unbeaded emerger behind it on another chunk of 4 or 5X.  Add a small stick on strike indicator about 16 inches up from the first beadhead and you're ready to slay!  The whole rig should be no more than 3 feet from Indy to last emerger.  That first beadhead will sink things down 4-6 inches and the emerger drifts slightly less than that.  Happy fishing until the heads really poke up and then switch to dries.  You may find the spring creek rig so deadly you don't switch!  

The Madison River: Is this river fishing well or what?  We're getting very good results top to bottom.  Fly selections have been very similar to what we're whacking 'em with on the Y'stone.  Picking something from the list above won't set you back at all.  Although it seems that fishing dries right down the middle of the river has become a bit passé.  You can still find some dandies looking for bigger bugs from midday on to mid afternoon.  However, running the nymph rigs in all the clearly defined slicks, eddys, and classic Maddy structure has proven its worth over and over.  You should be fishing with brown and/or pumpkin colored rubber leg stonefly varieties as well as big ugly black on black and throw a little trout candy on the back .  Our best dropper flies have been copper johns in red and black, FB Pt's, black soft hackles, lighting bugs, and mangy caddis.  All in smaller sizes like 18s and 20s.   Also try fishing bunny fur Zonkers trailed with the same small beadheads on a near tight line dead drift.  Some days it's been really good(check out the fella on the right. That's 22 inches of Madison Love on a bunny fur zonker!)    

What a classic freestone river to cast a fly!  The entire river is clear, low, and fishing well given the right conditions.  Big trout are definitely on the prowl for streamers down under now that fall is fully upon us.  We've been thinking Brown Trout as it's the annual fall spawn and the Yellowstone browns can get pretty rowdy.  What we are finding is that the fat bows are game for a moving bunny fur fly as well!  Best colors have been black, brown, and one we found called the River Chicken.  Call and we may divulge...   For the dries: PMX's in peacock, royal, and red are still hitting fish in sizes from 8 to 12, red Turck's Tarantula's,  and rubber legged Kaufmann's Royal Stimis continue to be SOLID choices on the warmer bright sunny days.  Fishing bigger size 10 and 12 Wulffs and H&L Variants is still money at times.    While the fall Baetis have really begun to peter out, dark midges are hatching.  Get the Para Adams out (just when can't you fish this pattern and NOT catch something?) and other dark size 16 and smaller patterns and tie them on as GO-TO dropper dries behind the biggies.   If you are nymphing you should be fishing FB Pt's, small Princes, copper john's, and lightening bugs.  Most droppers have been in the smaller sizes like 14-18.